How The “Gimmick” Destroyed America!

In a chariot of light from the regions of the day,
The Goddess of Liberty came,
Ten thousand celestials directed her way,
And hither conducted the dame.
A fair budding branch from the gardens above,
Where millions with millions agree,
She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love,
and the plant she named Liberty Tree.
The celestial exotic stuck deep in the ground,
Like a native it flourished and bore;
The fame of its fruit drew the nations around
To seek out this peaceable shore.
Unmindful of names or distinctions they came,
For freemen like brothers agree;
With one Spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
And their temple was Liberty Tree.
But hear, O ye swains ('tis a tale most profane),
How all the tyrannical powers,
Kings, Commons, and Lords, are uniting amain
To cut down this guardian of ours.
From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms,
Thro' the land let the sound of it flee:
Let the far and the near all unite with a cheer,
In defense of our Liberty Tree.

The ditty: “Liberty Tree” by Thomas Paine
NOTE: The song sung below has a second stanza which is
a variant from the second one above, HERE:

Beneath the fair tree, like the Patriarchs of old,
Their bread and contentions, they ate.
Convexed with the troubles of silver and gold,
The cares of the grand and the great.
With timber and tar, they all England supplied
And supported her proud on the sea.
Her battles they fought, without getting a groat,
For the honor of Liberty Tree.

Song ("ditty"): "Liberty Tree",
by Thomas Paine

[As Thomas Paine mentions above, the “elites” once tried to wrestle our Liberty Tree away from us – but, is it happening again? So, as we enter this new year, with a new President, most of us are pondering an uncertain future. That “assurance” we used to feel about our country – one of the surety of an unbeatable people, sure in their convictions and regard for each other – has been replaced with a kind of dread about where we really stand; not only in relation to the rest of the world; but where we stand in relation to ourselves! That slogan: “Make America Great Again!” has really only further disturbed many, as I have shown in another essay1, because we really don't know how that “greatness” will be achieved.
Rumors and innuendos about both the candidates in this recent election; along with another example, of where a long obsolete “Electoral College” has picked a candidate, who actually lost the election by millions of votes, makes us feel uneasy about who really controls our “so called” Democracy (not to mention the minions, of other countries, interfering in our electoral system!) Immediately, the word “gimmick” comes to mind! In fact, as we see poverty, disparity and taxes continue to increase, while government services, privacy and trust decrease dramatically, we wonder where American values and unity have gone – and, has that word “Democracy”, itself, only become another “gimmick” to hoodwink us? That is what we will examine below... ]

What is a “gimmick”? It is a slang word often used, as a precursor to a successful something else.
Again, we begin with the dictionary definition2 of “gimmick”:
1. A novel, tricky feature or detail added to or incorporated within something to increase its attractiveness or effectiveness.
2. A hidden or deceptive device or contrivance, as one used by a magician3.
Our current President, Donald Trump, used the “gimmick” (as in number 1. above) to make his fortune. The open, visible “gimmick” of “beauty” in the “Beauty Pageant”; and the invisible gimmick “chance” of the Casino, where chance can confer riches for a few (especially that few, who own the Casino!) These “gimmicks” conferred enormous wealth on him; one might say, on the backs of an enormous bunch of suckers (beauty contestants and gamblers!) Yet, it also conferred a type of “repute” on him, where he, always, was the master of turning things around, to suit himself. Thus, this probably brought many voters to his side, as the man, who could always do what he wants to do, without fail! But is this master of the “gimmick”, what America, as a Nation, really needs? In fact, are these very “gimmicks” the things that have actually taken the Democracy out of what we call “Democracy”, today – in fact, actually destroyed Democracy?
First of all, Democracy is suppose to be about ALL. And, its freedom is not about playing its citizens against each other; but about a type of freedom that unites them!
But, playing people against one another, is what our economy is all about! Even more reviling is the fact that it has become a method to create elites, the very same thing, this country was created to do away with! And, it has done this very well, as our President has shown us! Furthermore, this is not good for a people, who were suppose to view free speech, privacy and free worship as inalienable rights that all citizens have!
Monopolies, Unions and a segment of the population that think themselves better than everyone else, because of wealth, has turned Democracy into its opposite – which this election has really only confirmed! If you are rich, you have all the requirements to become President! I don't know about you, but I see this as the very same thing that caused the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution – not to mention our Democracy's birth! Again, our Democratic freedom was about unity; not about creating people so wealthy that they would become our betters, as our kings!
What is truly sad is the fact that our National unity is undergoing the same perversion that the unity in a “God” was suppose to bring about! Religions, instead of uniting, are continuing to splinter people into irreconcilable groups bent on wiping out all other religious groups, but their own! And, even worse, religions have become synonymous with hate – not love, the one truly “God-like” attribute of the human being – through judgment and a view of God, as a King, instead of the actual unity that love is!
Because of taxes and debt, governments have become the pushers of political theories, instead of the solutions for the failings that the freedom of the economy creates; and, sadly, confirmed the division of its ALL, into two irreconcilable groups, of Masters and Slaves.
What this election has really shown is that the rich rule through actually picking two candidates4, who would really only favor their segment of society; not the ALL, this country is suppose to be! Again, the people, at the bottom, foot the bills, while the people on top make those bills with the “gimmick” of taxes! While Trump picks his cabinet of the one percent, who got rich gouging us with oil bills and wars, we neglect our own to further that military-oil-industrial complex that make the one percent better than us! And, that “private, personal property” that was at the core of Capitalism has disappeared into the the “subscription society” that keeps the rich on top! A dirty kind of socialism and communism has taken over that “private, owned property” that was once the real foundation of Capitalism's core values. And, we pay and pay and pay... and pay, for property that we “own” – in the enigma (or gimmick) the rich created to make fools of the democratic idealists, we were!
We (or the minority, that now represents us, in an “electoral College”5) elected a showman as President; so what can we expect: a lot of bluster, more inflation, taxes and probably less service by our government, as the case of the Obamacare6 repeal effort is now showing us! WE THE PEOPLE have let the rich and their stock markets, and the “gimmick” of making people pay for the work, they do for themselves through taxes, destroy Democracy for all of us!
The rich now rule us, and stupidity has become America's most splendid virtue!
So, has the USA gone in the same direction as the French Revolution went; to Napoleonic Empire and Pluto-Oligarchy? Has the Liberty Tree fallen to our own perfidious self interests?
Is this where we want to go:
"President Trump, the new Emperor of the USA!"?